Question 1) In Plingy the Elder's Natural History, he tells the story about beavers. He said that beavers castrated themselves in order to run away hunters who pursued them for their testicles that could be utilized to produce the analgesic medication. This certainly is false. Describe why Darwin would have believed it sensible that lizards must drop their tails, but unlikely that beavers must self-castrate even to spare their own lives.
Question 2) Genes have been way by which information is transmitted across generations. Is that the only method that such transfer of information can happen? Richard Dawkins and many other have proposed that cultural transmission is another. Examples given by Dawkins consists fashions in clothing, musical tunes and architectural techniques. Could some analogue of natural selection work when culture is a means by which information is transmitted from one generation to another?